Incidentally, I will also say that while it looks like I will be agreeing with Joost on many things here, I must put in a word for The Beach Boys "Love You", from 1977, and which may be overall the most cohesive Beach Boys project of the 70s (though not necessarily the best - it is definitely eclipsed by "Sunflower"). Certainly it has divided even the most hard core Beach Boys fan, and I fall on the "pro" side.

Incidentally, I will also say that while it looks like I will be agreeing with Joost on many things here, I must put in a word for The Beach Boys "Love You", from 1977, and which may be overall the most cohesive Beach Boys project of the 70s (though not necessarily the best - it is definitely eclipsed by "Sunflower"). Certainly it has divided even the most hard core Beach Boys fan, and I fall on the "pro" side.

It's not one of my favorite Beach Boys albums, but it's OK. I dislike the instrumentation, it sounds like 80% keyboards, but some of the songs are pretty good. I especially like "Let's Go On This Way" and "The Night Was So Young". And the childlike naivity of the album certainly has it's charm.

I don't I know anybody else on this planet who knows as much about the Beach Boys as you.

Thanks, but there certainly are quite some people who know a hell of a lot more about them than I do. If you check out the Beach Boys forums on the internet, they are all full of hardcore Beach Boys fanatics who know every possible detail... Seriously, this is pretty much the average type of discussion on a Beach Boys forum (I made this particular one up of course, but you'll get the idea):

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Hey guys, what do you think of those home demos that Brian Wilson recorded with his gardener and his cook in March 1976?

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Dude, you've gotta be more specific. Are you talking about the March 6th or the March 8th session?

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According to my sources those sessions actually took place in April.

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I'm willing to believe that, those vocals sound much more like mid 1976 Brian than early 1976 Brian

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You're full of it, EVERYBODY knows that Brian's soundboard broke down in late March and didn't get fixed until early May

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He's right. Get your facts straight man.

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I didn't really like them until I discovered this bootleg that is two generations closer to the master tape, it sounds amazing.

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Oh man, I would die a happy man if we'd ever get an official release of those demos in true stereo.

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I know this guy who has it in stereo

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I highly doubt that, it's probably that duophonic mix with those overdubs that Carl added in 1979 when he was taking a break from the sessions for his first solo album.

I'm always a bit torn when I read threads like those. They make me want to slap those people and yell "GET A LIFE! YOU'RE TAKING THINGS WAY TOO SERIOUSLY! JUST ENJOY THE BLOODY MUSIC!", yet at the same time there's this voice in my head that's like "Wow, maybe Brian borrowed someone else's soundboard in April cause it does sound more like mid 1976 Brian... And a stereo mix of that demo would indeed kick some major ass..."

Since the title of this section says anything that concerns the Beatles, I think the Beach Boys falls into that catagory.

The song I Get Around is unique along with Good Vibes in that there has never been a studio stereo version( that I am aware of) released-- at least until recently. I had to pay $90 for a recent BB singles coll release to get a completely instrumental version of it in stereo-- it is great. I do not know if it was recorded completley inst b4 vocals were added or the vocals have been removed by a process that acc to Rec The Beatles is now poss. As a side benefit I got a stereo version of FFF at the same time. Unfortunately Rhonda and I Can Hear Music remain devoid of any value for the stereo lover as far as I know. BB fans are of course aware of the great stereo live versions avail of I Get Around, Good Vibes, Cal Girls and Wouldn't It Be nice-- I do not care for the studio stereo version of the last one in particular.

Another unfortunate experience is that many of the RS early releases are also only mono. I cannot find Tell Me, Off My Cloud, 19th, Satisfaction or Last Time.

I had to pay $90 for a recent BB singles coll release to get a completely instrumental version of it in stereo-- it is great. I do not know if it was recorded completley inst b4 vocals were added or the vocals have been removed by a process that acc to Rec The Beatles is now poss.

I'm sorry to tell you, but that instrumental version of "I Get Around" has been released before (on the "Good Vibrations - Thirty Years of the Beach Boys" box set in 1993) and is not the original backing track. After the Beach Boys had recorded their live album "Beach Boys Concert" it turned out that some of the songs were not good enough to be released, so they re-recorded them in the studio and overdubbed the crowd noises. The "I Get Around" backing track is from that session.

I'm sorry to tell you, but that instrumental version of "I Get Around" has been released before (on the "Good Vibrations - Thirty Years of the Beach Boys" box set in 1993) and is not the original backing track. After the Beach Boys had recorded their live album "Beach Boys Concert" it turned out that some of the songs were not good enough to be released, so they re-recorded them in the studio and overdubbed the crowd noises. The "I Get Around" backing track is from that session.

Are you saying that i Get Around stereo version on Beach Boys Concert album is a studio version with the crowd overdubbed? That is not what the album notes say. The notes describe a live concert in Sacto. Also, there is no crowd noise overdub on the inst version.

Thanks to the prev poster for clearing up the question of who is playing the Bari Sax notes on I Get Around-- Mike.

At any rate, I am not aware of a studio stereo vocal version of I Get Around or Good Vibes.

Are you saying that i Get Around stereo version on Beach Boys Concert album is a studio version with the crowd overdubbed?

Yes, that's what it is. Most of the tracks on 'Beach Boys Concert' are real live tracks, but some of the performances weren't good enough so they just re-recorded them in the studio and overdubbed the crowd noises. I know that for a fact, I even have a bootleg of the two concerts in Sacramento as they really were. They're very sloppy. The band didn't play tight and had quite some technical problems.

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That is not what the album notes say.

At the time they kept it quiet, of course. If you have to re-record parts of your live album because it's just not good enough, that's pretty embarrassing.

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Also, there is no crowd noise overdub on the inst version.

The crowd noises were of course recorded seperataly. Just like the instruments and the vocals were recorded seperately. So they could easily split them.

It is of course theoretically true that a live recording could receive studio overdubs but I am not buying it. The live rec of I Get Around is missing a guitar solo that is present on the mono studio record and also present on the instrumental studio version. If it was re-recorded in the sudio where is the missing guitar solo?

OK, I did some research and it seems I have to admit I was wrong (how about that, PC?). My apologies.

Regarding the stereo versions of 'I Get Around' and 'Good Vibrations', this is apparently the deal... I hope this will clear everything up.

'I Get Around'

The real live version of 'I Get Around' was, like I said, not good enough to be released on the 'Concert' album. I can send you the real live version from August 1, 1964 in Sacramento if you want to hear it.

The Beach Boys then, like I also said, re-recorded it in the studio.

But that's where I went wrong. After recording six takes of the "new" backing track I was talking about (all six takes been bootlegged on 'Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 6'), the band decided to just record new vocals over the backing track of the original studio version, and add fake live noises.

Apparently some bright spark decided to use the original multi track master tapes for this without making any backups or anything. And in the process, the original vocals were erased from the master tape! So the version that ended up on 'Concert' is the original backing track, remixed from the original multi track master tape (I assume the guitar solo was on a seperate track and left off this version because it sounded too good to be recorded live), with new vocals, and with live sounds added. If you're not buying that, I have a recording of the vocal overdub session that I can also send you.

So the master tape of the original studio version became the master tape of the 'Concert' version. That's why it has been assumed that the released instrumental backing track was not the original backing track but one of the new recordings made for 'Concert'. To be exact: it was Brett Elliott, author of 'Surf's Up: The Beach Boys On Record 1962-1981', who made that claim and since he was considered an authority on all things Beach Boys people took it as a fact.

So the reason why there can never be a stereo mix of 'I Get Around' with vocals: the original vocals have been erased from the master tape and all mixdowns that were ever made were in mono. However, a stereo mix of the 'Concert' version with the "live" sounds stripped off should be possible, I guess.

'Good Vibrations'

The multi track tape of the backing track is still in the archives.

However, the tape that the backing track was transferred to and where the vocals were recorded on has been missing ever since a massive clean-out of the Columbia Studios in 1967.

That's why it's not possible to make a stereo mix of 'Good Vibrations' with vocals. There however is a stereo backing track of 'GV', it was released on a 'GV' 40th anniversary cd-single in 2006. I could send you that as well.

So the original version of 'IGA' being released in stereo is pretty much impossible, 'GV' being released in stereo is highly unlikely.

But then again, you never know. The master tapes of the 'Shut Down Vol. 2' album had been missing since 1964 and turned up in a private collection earlier this year. The newly found master tapes have been used to make new stereo mixes of the songs 'Who Do Fools Fall In Love?' and 'Don't Worry Baby'. Both have been released on the compilation 'Summer Love Songs', which came out about a month ago.